Desmond O’Grady was born in Limerick in 1935, and spent many years living in Paris, Rome, Cairo and Alexandria.
His collections include Chords and Orchestrations (Limerick, 1956); Reilly (London, 1961); Separazoni (Rome, 1965); The Dark Edge of Europe (London, MacGibbon & Kee, 1967); The Dying Gaul (MacGibbon & Kee, 1968); Hellas (Dublin 1971); Separations (Dublin 1973); Stations (Cairo 1976); Sing Me Creation (Dublin, The Gallery Press, 1977); The Headgear of the Tribe (The Gallery Press, 1979); The Skaldcrane’s Nest (The Gallery Press, 1979); Alexandria Notebook (Dublin 1989); Tipperary (Galway, Salmon Poetry, 1991); My Fields This Springtime (Belfast, The Lapwing Press, 1993); The Road Taken, Poems 1956-1996 (Salzburg, Poetry Salzburg, 1996); The Wandering Celt (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 2001); and On My Way (The Dedalus Press, 2006).
His translations include Off Licence (Dublin 1968); The Gododdin (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1977); A Limerick Rake (Dublin, The Gallery Press, 1978); Grecian Glances (Cambridge MA 1981); The Seven Arab Odes (London, Agenda, 1980); Ten Modern Arab Poets (Dublin 1992); Alternative Manners (Alexandria 1993); Trawling Tradition. Translations 1954 – 1994 (Poetry Salsburg, 1994); and CP Cavafy, Selected Poems (Dublin, Dedalus, 1999).
Wolfgang Görtschacher & Andreas Schachermayr have edited The Wide World. A Desmond O’Grady Casebook. With New Poems 2003 by Desmond O’Grady (Salsburg Poetry, 2003).
In 1960 he was a founder member of the European Community of Writers in Rome.
He currently lives in Co Cork and is a member of Aosdána.
Desmond O’Grady at Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Desmond O’Grady at The National Library of Ireland